The Role of Poverty and Inequality: A Focus on Housing Insecurity, Homelessness and Social Policies

Dear Colleagues,

There is a global crisis of inequality, poverty, housing insecurity and homelessness, and inequality and poverty are major drivers of housing insecurity and homelessness across the world. These four interconnected social phenomena are multidirectional and impact each other in different ways. The focus of this Special Issue of Social Sciences is on how all forms of inequality and poverty impact housing insecurity and homelessness, and how social policy and program interventions are designed to address these challenges. 

Decades-long neoliberal housing policy and residual welfare states plagued by austerity throughout much of the Global North has seen housing come to be viewed primarily as a commodity, and tool for private wealth creation. The private housing and property development system in Western liberal capitalist economies has deeply entrenched systemic, class, gender, racial and intergenerational inequality. This neoliberal economic approach, combined with cost of living pressures, high levels of inflation and declining growth in real wages, as well as an intentionally limited supply of social and affordable housing and the impacts of climate change, including natural disasters, has seen the opportunity of access to safe, appropriate and affordable housing become elusive. More and more people are experiencing the very worst forms of social exclusion including housing insecurity and homelessness.

Social, economic and environmental factors also impact the Global South in relation to their communities’ experiences of inequality, poverty, housing insecurity and homelessness. The ongoing impacts of colonisation, population movements and growth, natural disasters and urbanisation also give rise to housing inequality, poverty, housing insecurity and homelessness.

This Special Issue calls for contributions from across the globe that focus on the interconnections between inequality, poverty, housing insecurity and homelessness and provide critical analyses of the design, implementation and evaluation of social policies aimed at addressing these four social issues. Contributions are encouraged from all social science-related disciplines and may include analyses of programs and interventions that have achieved positive outcomes for people and communities who have experienced marginalisation and oppression.

Dr. Shane Warren
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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• inequality
• poverty
• housing insecurity
• homelessness
• social policy